Case report on transcendental meditation (TM)

A personal account of a meditative illumination during Transcendental Meditation in 1968, at age 22, which the author describes as a peak event that changed their life. The experience initially led to a state characterized as borderline psychotic, followed by a 56-year process of adaptation. The author independently managed rehabilitation by shifting career from finance to health economics and completing a graduate thesis in sociology on Human Relations Management, using its vocabulary to articulate the experience. Creativity was confirmed in 1991 with a prize in health economics. The author concludes that meditative in-depth relaxation helped replace natural limbic defense mechanisms with falsified cognition.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This case report on Transcendental Meditation covers 56 years, from its introduction in 1967 until today. It is divided into 3 main parts. Already in 1968, at the age of 22, this peak event, under the form of a meditative illumination completely took me by surprise and changed my life. A few days later, when I felt like a “person from Mars in disguise” started Phase 1: Rehabilitation, a state psychiatrists characterize as borderline psychotic. In my case, I adapted independently to the new situation by the following decisions. Firstly, I changed my career scenario from finance to health economics to get a long-term option to understand illumination in a secular positivist way. Secondly, I managed to do my graduate thesis in Sociology instead of economics. My thesis was on Human Relations Management (HRM), which enabled me to develop an acceptable vocabulary on modern “soft” values related to my illumination experience. Phase 2: Confirmation of my creativity, dating from 1991, when I was awarded the 3rd Prize in a prestigious Danish competition in health economics. The overall neurodynamic learning is that meditative in-depth-relaxation has been crucial in replacing my natural limbic defense mechanism with falsified cognition